Essex Historical Society and Essex Meadows present History Hour. This program features a speaker, author, presenter, or musician once a month through 2026. Stay tuned as we announce the topic and presentation of each month’s program.

May’s History Hour features our rescheduled speaker from our Winter Lecture Series. Join us in welcoming Dr. Emily Sneff, author of the new book: When the Declaration of Independence Was News, as she presents "The Woman Who Printed the Declaration."

Connecticut-born printer Mary Katharine Goddard created the first broadsides of the Declaration of Independence to include the names of the men who had signed that document. Dr. Emily Sneff, a leading expert on the Declaration and author of the forthcoming book, When the Declaration of Independence Was News, will explore Goddard's career and the choices she made when printing the Declaration, first in her newspaper in July 1776 and then on the broadsides ordered by the Continental Congress in January 1777. Dr. Sneff will contrast the printings under Goddard's name with newspapers printed under the name of another Mary, on the other side of the Atlantic.

About the Speaker

Dr. Emily Sneff is an early American historian and leading expert on the United States Declaration of Independence. She earned her Ph.D. in History from William & Mary. She is a consulting curator and advisor for museum exhibitions and public programs marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration and the author of When the Declaration of Independence Was News, which will be published by Oxford University Press in April 2026.

History hour is FREE and open to the public. We recommend arriving to Hamilton Hall by 9:50 am. as seating is available first-come, first-served. No need to register for this event. In the unlikely event that the program changes or needs to be canceled, please check EHS social media and website.